By the beginning of March I’d raised the frame of the rain shelter, built of 4”x6” treated timbers bolted together, the four corners resting on and fastened to buried concrete piers imbedded in poured concrete mixed in one of our wheelbarrows conveniently located where it was needed. I’d carefully located the four corners and confirmed … Read more Two Sheds and a Rain Shelter in the Trees: Part 2

We needed more space; Yvonne for her garden tools and supplies, me for a shop. in January 2007 we’d moved to 240-acre Crane Island just across Pole Pass from Orcas Island and Deer Harbor a bit over a mile away. Our property in Deer Harbor had included a large boathouse we used for a shop … Read more Two Sheds and a Rain Shelter in the Trees: Part 1

2010 10 28 Thursday Almost all Crane Island Association members had responded to the invoices I sent out in late August with September 30th due dates. I was now the association Treasurer, having succeeded Mike Shimasaki, our occasional neighbor two lots down. I had returned bills and checks from all but three of the members; … Read more Homeowner Association Dues and Fees

(Sailing Alone Around the World by Captain Joshua Slocum) Wednesday 2010 10 27 For at least five years, six of us, now five, meet each Wednesday morning for ninety minutes of conversation over tea in Howard Barbour’s one room cabin next to his elaborate and productive vegetable garden, just above his house, shop and outdoor … Read more Around the World in the Sloop Spray

We were planning on leaving Deer Harbor in our pocket trawler, Gumption, on Friday, July 16, 2004 to meet the Orcas Island Yacht Club group in Telegraphic Harbor on Thetis Island, one of the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, on our way north to Desolation Sound, on the other side of the Straight of Georgia, … Read more Gumption in Desolation Sound

We were in New Mexico in late October 2017 and we’d been to Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, a hundred miles south of Albuquerque on I-25, where we’d observed migrating Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese (which we’ve also seen frequently in autumn north of Seattle foraging in Skagit Valley farm fields). We had stayed … Read more Rock City, Silver City

Tuesday 2010 10 26 Windy, cloudy, 47 degrees. This is the time of year the thermometer varies only a few degrees day to night. Thirteen years ago when we spent our first weekend in our empty house on Cayou Valley Road in Deer Harbor we thought the big circular thermometer on the porch was broken … Read more Boat Troubles

I often walk the 2800 block of NW 58th in Ballard. Thyme Patch Park, a P-Patch display garden, sits quietly, almost unnoticed on the south side of the street. I stop in from time to time to see what’s growing. Across the street a crew has been putting a house together, making slow progress, since … Read more A Lift to Ballard Housing

A podcast where local comedians learn local history Having moved to Ballard from Olympia at the end of March 2019, I wanted to understand where I was. Hour long early morning walks radiating out from our apartment building in all directions were a daily pleasure and I got to know the neighborhood and sometimes people … Read more Acres of Clams: The Seattle Files with Chris Allen

You’ve inherited your Swedish grandmother’s silk wedding wedding dress from your mother, Elin but no one in the family wants Hilda’s dress. You don’t want to throw away; that seems wrong. Now what? My sister Julie, who was storing the dress after our sister, Marcy, died in 2017, came up with a great solution. Elin … Read more Hilda’s Chinese Silk Wedding Dress